TRANSIT: Amtrak reports record ridership, but not in SoCal

Amtrak
reported last week
11 consecutive months of record ridership, including in July, which the federally funded passenger rail service called "the single best ridership month in the history of Amtrak."

By next month, it expects to surpass its record 30.2-million-passenger level, set during the 2011 fiscal year.

However, fewer people were using the rail service locally ----
Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner
, which serves San Diego County north to San Luis Obispo, had a 5.8 percent decline in ridership over the past year, according to agency spokesman Mark Magliari.

Still, ridership is gaining steam elsewhere, including in the Central Valley and Northern California, according to the agency.

Why are so many nationwide travelers choosing the train? And will Amtrak sustain these ridership gains, or watch riders return to their cars once gas prices tick back down?

The North County Times asked transportation experts across California and the nation, Amtrak officials and rail passengers to explain the ridership increases and discuss the rail service's future.

That future could hinge on November's presidential and congressional elections.

Republicans at their convention last month called for full privatization of the service, saying in their platform: "It is long past time for the federal government to get out of the way and allow private ventures to provide passenger service," adding that taxpayers dole out almost $50 for every Amtrak ticket.

Amtrak received $1.4 billion in federal funding for the 2012 fiscal year, said Steve Kulm, director of Amtrak's media relations in Washington, D.C. He declined to directly respond to the GOP platform calls, but said the agency has made strides financially.

Politics aside, transportation experts cited the recent fuel price surge as the biggest reason more travelers are switching to rail. Higher fuel prices affect motorists and air travelers more than rail passengers, explained Mark Hansen, a UC Berkeley professor of civil engineering who focuses on aviation and has studied ridership demand for high-speed rail.

Hansen added that track improvements have shortened trip times on some Amtrak routes and probably attracted more riders, especially in the Northeast.

Nationally, Amtrak ridership is up 3.4 percent from October 2011 through August 2012 compared with the same period a year before, the agency said.

Southern California's ridership declines on the Pacific Surfliner may have been caused by extensive track work interrupting service, or because a traditional post-summer fare decrease wasn't put in place in 2011, said Jason Probst, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation, in a statement.

Caltrans funds the state's three busiest Amtrak routes, including the Surfliner.

If Amtrak continues to reduce trip times, offer amenities that airlines don't ---- such as
free Wi-Fi Internet service
---- and gas prices remain high, Hansen said ridership gains won't be "a flash in the pan."

Joe Vranich, a prominent Amtrak critic, agreed ridership gains could continue, but only with larger subsidies funded by taxpayers. He said Amtrak could continue to lower its fares, which he said are already too low.